Methods of Manufacturing Shawl

This painting by William Simpson (1867), shows an embroidered shawl being worked on. Shawls were seldom woven as single pieces but pieced together with patterns woven in sections and then stitched perfectly together by experts known as 'Rafoogars'. When William Simpson visited Kashmir, in the first part of the 19th century, shawl designs were getting more complex and elaborate with the colour palette more varied.